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In this action for damages for personal injuries sustained in an automobile accident, plaintiff obtained a Judgment against defendant driver, an underinsured motorist, and the intervener who had paid plaintiff's workers compensation benefits, was awarded a lien against the Judgment entered on behalf of the plaintiff. On appeal, we affirm the Judgment of the Trial Court.

The trial court terminated the parental rights of the father of a six-year old girl on multiple grounds, including abandonment, failure to substantially comply with the permanency plan, and failure to remedy persistent conditions that diminish the child's chances for early integration into a safe, stable and permanent home. The father argues that the agency failed to make reasonable efforts to reunify him with his child and that since he was incarcerated when he first learned for certain that he was
the child's father, and has been in prison ever since, none of his parental failures can be held against him. We affirm the trial court's finding that the ground of substantial noncompliance with the permanency plan was proved by clear and convincing evidence. We also affirm the trial court's finding that termination of the father's parental rights is in the child's best interests.

Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; and Jennifer L. Bledsoe, Assistant Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.

Judge: OGLE

The pro se petitioner, Nicholas Coleman, appeals the dismissal of his petition for writ of habeas corpus. The state has filed a motion requesting that this court affirm the trial court's judgment pursuant to Rule 20, Rules of the Court of Criminal Appeals. The petition fails to establish the petitioner's claim of an expired sentence. Accordingly, the state's motion is granted and the judgment of the trial court is affirmed.

Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; J. Ross Dyer, Assistant Attorney General; Randall E. Nichols, District Attorney General; and Jason Haynes, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.

Judge: OGLE

A Knox County Criminal Court jury convicted the petitioner, Timothy Wade Davis, of four counts of rape of a child and one count of especially aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, and the trial court sentenced him to an effective seventy-six years in confinement. This court affirmed the petitioner's convictions and sentences. See State v. Timothy Wade Davis, No. E2003-02162-CCA-R3-CD, 2004 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 941 (Knoxville, Oct. 25, 2004), aff’d, State v. Davis, 185 S.W.3d 338 (Tenn. 2006). Subsequently, the petitioner filed a petition for post-conviction relief, and the post-conviction court denied the petition after an evidentiary hearing. On appeal, the petitioner contends that he received the ineffective assistance of counsel because his trial attorneys failed to object to the State's use of four photographs to establish four incidents of child rape when there was no accurate way to determine when the photographs were taken. Based upon the record and the parties' briefs, we affirm the judgment of the post-conviction court.

Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Jennifer L. Bledsoe, Assistant Attorney General; William H. Cox, III, District Attorney General; and Neal Pinkston, Assistant District Attorney, for the appellee, the State of Tennessee.

Judge: WOODALL

Defendant, Terrell Lee Davis, was indicted for first degree premeditated murder, first degree felony murder, and especially aggravated kidnapping. Following a jury trial, Defendant was found guilty of the lesser included offense of second degree murder, and not guilty of felony murder and especially aggravated kidnapping. Following a sentencing hearing, the trial court sentenced Defendant as a Range I, standard offender, to twenty-two years. On appeal, Defendant argues that (1) the trial court erred in its jury instructions; (2) the trial court erred in limiting Defendant's cross-examination of State witnesses Eva Evans and Dr. Stanton Kessler; and (3) the trial court erred in denying Defendant's motion to suppress his statement to the police. After a thorough review, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Benjamin A. Ball, Assistant Attorney General; and William H. Cox, III , District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.

Judge: OGLE

The petitioner, Leonard Lebron Ross, filed a petition for a writ of error coram nobis in the Hamilton County Criminal Court. The trial court dismissed the petition for failure to state a proper claim for a writ of error coram nobis, which dismissal the petitioner appeals. The State filed a motion requesting that this Court affirm the trial court's denial of relief pursuant to Rule 20, Rules of the Court of Criminal Appeals. Upon review of the record and the parties' briefs, we conclude that the petition was properly dismissed. Accordingly, the State's motion is granted and the judgment of the trial court is affirmed.

There will no special election to fill 12 seats vacated in Knox County after the commission violated the Tennessee Open Meetings Act, Chancellor Daryl R. Fansler ruled Friday. "The court cannot simply ignore the doctrine of separation of powers, the Tennessee Constitution, lawful statues enacted by the Tennessee General Assembl... and the plain provisions of the Knox County Charter." Fansler's ruling means the commission must once again choose replacements.

Courthouses in 83 counties will become safer soon with the additions of new security equipment to be purchased with $2 million appropriated by the Tennessee General Assembly. In addition to providing funds for equipment, a portion of the money will be used for training courthouse security personnel, to be coordinated by the Administrative Office of the Courts and conducted in East, Middle and West Tennessee.
Requested equipment included panic buttons, handheld metal detectors, bulletproof benches, walk through magnetometers, x-ray machines, camera and surveillance systems, Tazer guns and bulletproof vests.

Two Anderson County elections that were voted on 14 months ago are still up in the air. For the second time in less than two months, the state Supreme Court has sent a case back to the Anderson County Chancery Court to determine if votes cast in the 2006 election were legal.

President Bush awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to lawyer and ordained Baptist minister Benjamin L. Hooks and seven others at a White House ceremony this morning.
He thanked Bush, saying he especially liked the concept behind the medal, which honors people for contributions to peace and freedom, the arts and sciences and other fields.

According to the Virginia Supreme Court, deciding a custody case by the flip of a coin or asking a woman to drop her pants in open court is not a good idea. In fact, Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court Judge James Michael Shull was removed from the bench last week. The court said he
failed to uphold the dignity of the judiciary.